


TMS Christmas Party

by myownsunshine



Category: The Morning Show (TV 2019)
Genre: Christmas Party, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28180821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myownsunshine/pseuds/myownsunshine
Summary: Alex throws a "couples welcome" Christmas party for her coworkers.
Relationships: Bradley Jackson/Alex Levy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	TMS Christmas Party

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't want to take too much time away from my other fic, but I thought I'd do a little Christmas fic for my fellow bralex shippers. I know it's short, but I hope you enjoy

It was an annual tradition. The TMS Christmas party Alex threw for her closest coworkers was something many of the staff looked forward to every year, with plenty of free food and drinks. Everyone dressed up in their fancy clothes and enjoyed the night of fun, laughter, drinks, and of course presents! 

This year was a bit different for Alex. It was her first year being single on Christmas since she was very young. It felt different. The vibe of the party was not as cheerful. She finally understood all of those ‘I’m so sad because I’m single on Christmas’ songs. She stood at the bar and drank her champagne as she watched her coworkers mingle. 

Bradley walked up to the bar. “Hey. Great party.” She said and looked out at the guests. She’d never been to such a classy Christmas party before. Usually her Christmas parties were in someone’s barn, where they all just got hammered, and it usually never ended well. 

“Yeah.” Alex said. She really wasn’t feeling the Christmas spirit. She looked over at Mia and her new boyfriend as they made out under the mistletoe. God, she wished that was her. She however, put her own personal feelings aside and checked on each of her guests, and made sure they all had enough to eat and drink. She had a love hate relationship with hosting parties. She loved the compliments she’d get on her house, her party, and hospitality. On the other hand, she hated the effort that went into it and the stress it brought. But she wasn’t going to think about the negative. It was Christmas and she had to be happy. It was like some sort of unspoken law… right? 

After she finished her glass of champagne and made her rounds, she retreated to her room just to get a break from all the hugs and kisses and couples and the happiness that she was having to force. Ugh why did she decide to throw the party this year? And why did she have to say couples were welcome? When she got to her room, Bradley was already sitting on her bed. 

“Oh sorry, I- I didn’t know you’d be back here.”

“This is my room. Why are you back here?”

“Honestly, Christmas was never a good time growin’ up. I- just everyone’s so happy, I didn’t wanna ruin their mood. I felt so out of place, so I came back here.” She paused, but Alex just slowly nodded. “Why are you hidin’ out?”

“I just- Chip has a girlfriend, Cory has a girlfriend, Mia and her boyfriend. Everyone is so happy and it makes me realize how single I am.” She sat on her bed, upset at life in general, and how it'd all gone to shit. 

“Yeah.” Bradley knew what she meant. She was single too. She really wanted Alex to be able to enjoy this party she’d so generously put on for all of them. But… how? She couldn't force her to be happy. Unless… “what if we pretended to be a couple?”

“What?” Alex laughed. 

“Come on, they’re all safe. Do you realize we’re the only two without a date?” She tried to persuade Alex, but she still seemed skeptical. “We can make fun of all them, it’ll be fun.” 

Alex laughed at Bradley’s enthusiasm. It might actually help her enjoy the night, and help her forget about how she'd be spending Christmas alone.

“Come on, we’ll tell everyone we felt left out.” Bradley said as she grabbed Alex’s hand. 

“Only for tonight.” Alex said, and smiled. It could be fun. 

“Of course!” Bradley said. It was just going to be a funny joke, just to cheer Alex up. 

They walked out of the room hand in hand as the group sat down for white elephant. 

“What is this?” Chip pointed back and forth between Alex and Bradley and took a sip of this drink. 

“Nothing. We felt left out.” Alex suddenly got nervous, and was quick to tell them it was only a joke. 

Bradley threw her arms around Alex’s shoulders. “All you mushy gushy couples made us jealous.” She leaned her head in so it was touching Alex’s, and she felt Alex lean into it too. 

“Wait, you two aren’t dating?” Daniel asked. He’d had suspicions that they’d been dating for a while. 

“We’re just tryin’ a fit in. Right baby?” Bradley said and held Alex’s hand. 

“That’s right, sugar.” Alex used the pet name she’d heard Mia’s boyfriend using all night, which earned an eye roll from Mia.

Everyone accepted it as a joke and laughed and played along throughout the night. Alex didn’t realize she could have so much fun being in a fake relationship for the party. She was impressed with how it’d turned her night around. Bradley too. She had never cared too much for Christmas, but this party wasn’t so bad. They’d laughed A LOT. To be fair, everyone was drunk on eggnog or champagne. 

After the game of white elephant, everyone stood around mingling once again. Cory suddenly shouted, “hey! You’re under the mistletoe! You have to kiss!” 

Bradley and Alex simultaneously looked up. They were indeed standing directly under the mistletoe. Alex shrugged. She guessed it’d be okay. They were pretending to be a couple after all. Besides, she was starting to genuinely like Bradley. It seemed so easy with her. Maybe it was the fact that there was absolutely no pressure, since they weren’t a real couple, or maybe it was just natural. 

Bradley grabbed Alex’s head with both hands. She only got one kiss. She was gonna make it a good one. She stood on her tiptoes and brought Alex in for that kiss. 

Everyone applauded, and the longer it went on, the louder they got. They all thought it was the funniest thing that they were going this far into pretending. 

When they finally broke the kiss, Alex stood, frozen. It was the best kiss she’d ever had. She stared at Bradley, impressed at her fake girlfriend. “Wow.” She whispered. 

Bradley smiled. Just the reaction she was hoping for. “Imagine if I was your real girlfriend.” Bradley teased, as if it wasn’t her best. 

Alex watched her as she walked into the crowd of party guests. She didn’t know what to do, that kiss was… life changing. She chased after her girlfriend for the night and caught up to her as the music grew louder and the guests around them began dancing to the popular song. Once she caught up to Bradley, she didn’t know what to do, so she just said, “hi.” 

“Hey.” Bradley was glad she made an effort to be with her. She knew the kiss was working. “Wanna dance?” She asked and began waving her arms in the air. 

“Yes, but please tell me you have better moves.” Alex laughed and began dancing to the music. 

“Nope!” Bradley smiled and continued to dance in the most embarrassing way possible. 

Alex got halfway through the song before she covered her eyes from second-hand embarrassment. “Bradley!” She laughed “thank god you didn’t dance like that on the show!” She smiled. 

“What, you rather me dance like this?” She said and started backing up against Alex and then laughed. They both laughed. It didn’t even feel weird, they were both just conscientious of the other guests. Plus, they were genuinely having a good time. 

“Oh my gosh.” Alex said and covered her face and then placed her hands on Bradley’s shoulders. 

Bradley faced Alex and looked into her eyes. She knew the kiss had done what she’d wanted it to do and smiled at her, then took her hand as she walked onto the balcony to get away from everyone. The snow was falling from the sky, as they stood on the balcony but neither of them were cold. They just stared at each other, holding hands for a while. Bradley had pulled her fake girlfriend outside, but she really had no plan, other than to get away from the other guests. Outside they could actually talk, they could express feelings, if Alex was so willing. 

“Thank you for making my night exponentially better.” Alex smiled. 

“Right back atcha.”  _ And thank you for making sure I had the biggest crush in the world on you.  _ Bradley thought, but she wasn’t going to say it out loud. She thought she had made it perfectly clear with the kiss she gave, that she was having feelings that went beyond friendship, so now it was time for Alex to make a move. “It was a lotta fun bein’ your girlfriend.” 

Alex laughed and blushed. “Maybe we can do it again sometime.” 

Bradley smiled. “I’d like that.” She paused for a second to observe Alex’s reaction. They seemed to be on the same page. "So, what're your plans for Christmas?" She shot out a question, knowing that if the conversation fell flat, they'd both walk inside, and she wasn't ready for that yet.

“Oh, uh… I get Lizzy Christmas Eve, so we’ll do dinner, gifts, all that, and then Jason gets her Christmas Day, so I’ll probably put on a movie and… drink some wine.”

She felt bad Alex would be spending Christmas Day alone, as much fun as her plans would sound on any other day, it sounded sad for Christmas. “I know it might be crazy that I’m askin,’ considerin’ my family, but I’d love it if you came to Virginia with me? I fly out late Christmas Eve. I just- you shouldn’t be alone on Christmas.” 

Alex smiled at the kind and generous invitation. “Would I have to sleep in your childhood bedroom?” She joked. 

“Oh hell no, I’m stayin’ at a hotel.” She laughed. 

“Yeah.” She nodded. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll go to Virginia with you.” A dysfunctional family was better than none at all. But in the end, she just wanted to spend the time with Bradley. Alex watched Bradley’s smile after she accepted her offer. She was so touched by her kindness, she threw her arms around Bradley. She’d just saved Christmas for her. “Thank you. I can’t wait to spend Christmas with you.” She said as they both held each other tight, but refrained from another kiss, knowing their coworkers could see them, and they were only pretend girlfriends after all…

Merry Christmas! 


End file.
